Pamela's Kitchen: Melon Meter

I’ve never been much of a melon thumper myself, having always relied on the tried and true advice from watermelon queen contestants from a National Watermelon Association convention I attended back in 2006: Always pick a watermelon that’s heavy for its size, a uniform shape, and has a nice yellow patch on the bottom.

The Melon Meter app, available for $1.99, is supposed to take that guesswork out of choosing a watermelon that’s ready to eat.

All you have to do is find a quiet place in the produce department, place your smart phone on top, launch the meter and thump away.

It took a while for Ike and I to get the hang of it, but once we did we were professional watermelon thumpers.

I gave this a 6/10 for usability – we had a lot of background noise that interfered with the app and it was hard to get a good thump at first, but for fun, that’s totally an 8/10. Even the checkers got into it, borrowing my phone to thump melons at the checkout.

This was definitely $2 worth of fun.

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About the Author:

Pamela Riemenschneider, Editor

Pamela Riemenschneider has been with The Packer Newspaper for the past 11 years, and editor of sister publication Produce Retailer Magazine since 2009. During her time with Farm Journal Media, she’s traveled all over North America and Europe visiting grocery operations, from single-store fruit stands to national chain supermarkets. She focuses on retail and consumer trends, packaging, new products and in-store operations to help retailers build exceptional produce categories. She also produces a video series from her Austin, Texas, home, “Pamela’s Kitchen,” where she does first-hand reviews of new products, often featuring her two sons, Ike and Uli.